Walking With Jesus

Need and Want

“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need.” (Matthew 6:31-33 NLT)

What do you need? No, not what you strongly desire, what do you genuinely NEED? Need is quite different than want or desire. I may need a different car, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I need a new car, as in brand new. The last car I bought was seven years old but had less than 20,000 miles. I’ve had it for more than 3 years and haven’t had any issues other than routine maintenance.

We have an argument with our spouse, and we think we NEED a new one. Our job gets stressful because the boss embarrasses us in front of our fellow employees and we’re ready to quit. The list is long of things that frustrate, embarrass, or anger us to the point of wanting to seek a change, and that’s not always bad or wrong. But do we NEED a change?

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Pexels.com

The issue isn’t that we never have a need that deserves attention, the issue is we too often confuse our wants and needs. Think of the times you’ve had a nagging cough, pain, or physical issue that “needed” attention, but you didn’t “want” to go to the doctor. Or the persistent voice of the Holy Spirit prompting you to stop or start something that you didn’t want to start or stop.

I’m reminded of Francis Chan’s words when he wrote: “The irony is that while God doesn’t need us but still wants us, we desperately need God but don’t really want Him most of the time.” We too often fail to realize that the Lord is interested and, if we’re His child, invested in our decisions. He genuinely desires to guide us in our decisions because He alone knows the outcome of each one.

We often make decisions without thinking of asking the Lord because we don’t think they have any real consequence, especially in our spiritual life. But think of the small child who thinks they know everything about everything when, in fact, they know very little about anything. They want their way, but as a loving parent we need to set realistic boundaries, not to restrict them, but to protect them.

God feels that way about us. He has no desire to harness our enthusiasm for Him, but to guard and guide us in the ways we pursue our desires, as pure as they may be, in following Him. For example, We may have small children, be on a very tight budget, and have limited resources, but we believe God is calling us to quit our job(s), sell everything and go serve Him on a foreign mission field.

And He may well be, but might it be that we’re blinded to our mission right where we are by the frustration of our current circumstances? We can get so buried in our routine that we fail to dream about how God might need us to serve right where He planted us.

It’s no accident that we’re where we are. Dare to look around you. Where do you live? Where do you work? Where is your family? Your church family? Who are your neighbors? What needs exist in your own community? In your own family? In your own life?

Ministry grows out of needs the Lord reveals to us when we place our wants behind the needs of others. What is the Lord laying on your heart to do right where you are – where you live, work, play, shop, worship? The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few, often, I’m convinced, because we just don’t take the time to see beyond our wants to their needs.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Interrogate the Lie

“Jesus said to the people who believed in Him, ‘You are truly My disciples if you remain faithful to My teaching. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’” (John 8:31-32 NLT)

What lies are you believing that may be crippling your effectiveness and fruitfulness for the Savior? Some of the most common are: “I’m not good enough! I don’t know enough! I’m not smart enough! Talented enough! I don’t know the Bible well enough! People won’t like me, or they’ll reject me! I haven’t walked with the Lord long enough (not mature enough spiritually)!”

These are just a few, but what do all of them have in common? “I” and “I” is the central letter of LIE! When I’m the center character in the drama of my role in Christ’s plan, I will bail nearly every time. Why? Because I’m trusting more in me than in Him.

When I was in college, I had an interest in a girl that, to me, was a pipedream. While I could fantasize about us being a couple, I couldn’t bring myself to believe it could ever be a reality. There was a party that my roommate was going to, and he asked me if I’d like to go. He said, “She’ll be there!” I didn’t go. I believed the lie about myself, now I’ll never know.

What if? Isn’t that among the saddest questions we ask? But when it comes to our spiritual conversations, it can be eternally sad, not just for us, but for the many with whom we could have had a conversation.

So, here’s the truth: you have everything you need to do and be everything the Lord asks of you if you do it in faith with confidence in the Holy Spirit’s power to use you, not in your own strength. The lie we believe is that it can’t be done, and the truth is WE can’t make it happen! But we believe the lie because we want to think it depends on us, when it absolutely DOES NOT!

Hart Ramsey challenges us when he writes: “Truth doesn’t offend YOU. It offends the lie that’s hiding out in you. Don’t reject Truth. Interrogate the lie. Make it prove its claims.” When you interrogate the claims of the lie that says you can’t obey God you must conclude the fact is YOU CAN! How do I know that? Because God’s Word is true and Philippians 4:13 says: “For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.”

This is a very personal observation. It doesn’t mean I can do double back flips if I trust in Jesus. I’m 77, He wouldn’t ask me to do that. What it means is anything and everything He asks of us He will enable us to do it. He sees it as a part of our ability to carry it out. We may not choose to believe it, but that doesn’t make it untrue.

For example, the Lord may prompt you to invite a neighbor or friend you don’t know well to have lunch with you. You can come up with a thousand excuses for not asking them, but the truth is, if God is in it, it will work out. They may say “no,” initially, but leave the door open for another invitation. So, ask again, and again until they say “yes,” or the Lord says “enough.”

Obedience to the Lord is a heart that is tuned to say “yes,” whatever the question. At our church the Pastors like to use the example of a piece of paper with our signature at the bottom. We simply write “YES” and sign it. We’re putting our “YES” on the table!

Next time the Lord asks you to do something, don’t believe the lie that you can’t, just say “YES!”

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Impossible Prayers

“Jesus looked at them intently and said, ‘Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.” (Mark 10:27 NLT)

There are many ways to look at the impossible. It’s impossible for me to fly, yet I can climb on an airplane and fly all over the world. It’s impossible for me to will the leaves in my backyard to fly into a bag and take themselves to the trash can, but, by God’s grace and with His help, I can take my shop vac and suck those little guys into a bag and easily pour them into the trash.

And, yes, I know that’s silly on some levels but think of the impossibility of someone who is lost in their sin being saved. Every day I lift to the Lord the names of loved ones and friends who have yet to yield their lives to Jesus. You know what keeps me hopeful? The fact that one day I was lost, and someone persevered in prayer for me. I’m saved today because someone prayed for me, and, if you’re a child of God, so are you!

Nothing is impossible for God! Think about that for a minute. NOTHING! And here’s another piece to the puzzle – no one wants our loved ones and friends saved more than God! Satan’s plan is to steal, kill, and destroy, but God’s plan is to give life in all its fullness (John 10:10). How is Satan stealing, killing, and destroying? In our heart and mind!

Can it be we’re hindering the Spirit’s progress in our loved ones heart and life by our unbelief? And, no, that’s not my effort to dump on you guilt, shame, or blame. I’m simply making an observation that applies to how I pray and my attitude at times when I’m praying for lost people. I’m afraid too often I say the words, but my heart is empty and void of confident hope that the words I’m sharing with God are really conveying the conviction of my heart that God can and will do the impossible if I ask in faith.

I’m bolstered by Bob Goff’s powerful words: “God delights in answering our impossible prayers.” We’ve seen hundreds saved and baptized in and through the ministries of our church in Las Vegas, and we’re just a tiny piece of what God is doing through His people here in this city. God is alive, active, and responding to the prayers of His people here in “Sin City,” how much more will He gladly and cheerfully work in your city!

There are people in this city and in our church who take prayer very seriously and I’m one of them. Will you join me in believing God for a miracle in your life? In your family’s life? In your marriage? Your workplace? Your child(ren)’s life? In your own heart? People typically don’t and won’t change unless and until they have a reason. Let’s give them a reason!

God’s convicting Spirit moved my heart to repentance and confession of my sin. Why do I find it so hard to believe He can and will do the same in the hearts and lives of those for whom I’m praying? Maybe we need to stop asking and start thanking Him for what He’s going to do in response to our believing prayers.

I’m convinced God works miracle upon miracle in our lives for which we give Him no credit or thanks. Things that are humanly impossible, yet God in His limitless grace does for us without any notice or recognition on our part. How many accidents has He prevented by causing us to pause for some, at least to us, unknown reason? We can’t know how often God intervenes when we haven’t even thought to ask.

Can’t we at least take Him at His Word, believe He’ll do what He says He’ll do, and give Him credit when He does?

Impossible? Not for God!

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Unity and Peace

“Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.” (Ephesians 4:3-4 NLT)

What comes first to mind when you think about unity? Being on the proverbial “same page?” Having similar goals, aspirations, desires, needs? Having similar beliefs, be they religious, political, educational, or otherwise?

Paul speaks of being “united in the Spirit.” What does that mean? There are several implications. First, in order to be united in the Spirit, the Spirit must be united with us, individually. The Spirit will not unite, at least in the sense in which Paul uses the term, believers and unbelievers. He addresses this in 2 Corinthians 6. The point being, unity in the Spirit is a Christian endeavor that doesn’t come automatically just because we are a Jesus follower.

Paul says that we’re to “Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit,” which implies it requires intentionality on our part, but why? Why is it so important to maintain unity in the Spirit with our brothers and sisters in Christ? Unity begets effectiveness on many levels.

Imagine several people helping someone with a project, but each individual had a different vision of what that project should look like and/or what the outcome of the project should be. Jesus has given us a singular mission with a singular vision: “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

Our oneness isn’t attained by how we do something, but why and for Whom. Making disciples is a multi-faceted, multi-dimensional process that takes years, but it also takes lots of people with different levels of spiritual maturity, different personalities, different views, and different ways of accomplishing the same task.

Imagine me, as an American, going to Africa or Asia and trying to superimpose my methods of discipleship onto a culture about which I know very little. Wouldn’t it make more sense to learn more about the people with whom I would be working? And what would be the basis of that process? Our oneness in Jesus. But beyond that, our oneness is grounded in the Truth of who He is and what He taught.

Methodology is secondary to Truth. If what I’m teaching isn’t the Truth, it doesn’t matter how effective it is. That’s why J.C. Ryle’s words ring so clearly when he wrote: “Unity and peace are very delightful; but they are bought too dear if they are bought at the expense of Truth.” Our unity, according to Paul, is bound together with peace, largely, I believe, because not much is accomplished for good without it.

As believers in the Lord Jesus, these two issues: unity and peace, can be very divisive, largely because we want to bicker about whose unity or what the basis of our peace must be. Can’t the truth of who Jesus is and what He died to accomplish be enough? Can’t we simply work together to help lost people find their way home to Jesus? Does it really matter who gets the credit?

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Denial

“Have mercy on me, O God, because of Your unfailing love. Because of Your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night. Against You, and You alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in Your sight. You will be proved right in what You say, and Your judgment against me is just.” (Psalm 51:1-4 NLT)

While the term “denial” isn’t used in the KJV and other versions of the Bible, it is none-the-less a concept that is very familiar to the characters of the Bible. David lived in denial after having an adulterous relationship with Bathsheba (see 2 Samuel 11), a sin that set his life in a downward spiral that led to many other regrettable experiences in his life.

Denial is essentially refusing to see our wrong behavior in a redemptive light; it’s failing to allow the gravity of what we did gain its proper perspective, especially in our walk with the Lord. We choose to ignore the Spirit’s wooing as He seeks to draw us to the Lord for forgiveness and healing.

Beth Moore addresses this when she writes: “Denial’s the oldest trick in the book: to so rigorously, loudly preoccupy ourselves with the war around us that we ignore the war within us.” We do this not only as believers, but as unbelievers. The Lord’s convicting Spirit is drawing us to yield our life and allegiance to Jesus, but we keep pushing Him away. Followers of Jesus certainly don’t have a corner on the denial market.

So, how do we confront in our life what clearly doesn’t want to be confronted? Unfortunately, too often we won’t. We don’t know exactly the time that passed before the Lord told the Prophet Nathan to give David the message He’d given him, but it was minimally several months. What’s the application for us?

The only antidote to denial is facing the truth, but we aren’t very willing to do that without prompting. I’m confident the Holy Spirit convicted David the moment he learned of Bathsheba’s unwanted pregnancy; thus, the reason he tried so diligently to cover it up. But when human efforts failed, God moved in, and He will in our lives as well. It’s only a matter of how much carnage we want left in the path of our sin.

A couple of things that are helpful for us to understand. First, the Lord will forgive us, as He forgave David, but the negative consequences we have set in motion are going to take their toll, on us and others. Jesus pays the penalty for our sin, He will not always save us from their consequences. Confronting what we’ve done, being honest about our sin, is essential, but it’s not enough. Often the person or persons we’ve hurt will not forgive and/or forget what we’ve done.

They want us to hurt and suffer as they did because of our wrong behavior. Honestly, some will never forgive, but that doesn’t free us of our responsibility to forgive ourselves and trust the Lord to deliver us from ever doing something like that again. Sin is ugly and unrelenting, but we must make the choice to not allow it to dominate our lives from that point forward.

Each of us has done something or perhaps many things we deeply regret. God’s intention is for us to allow Him to turn that into an avenue of ministry to help others, to either avoid our sin, or to recover from its ill-effects if they’ve committed it. Either way, God will “work it for our good and His glory” if we’ll let Him.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Conformity to Jesus’ Death

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” (Romans 5:8-10 NKJV)

Prior to coming to know Jesus as Savior and Lord we mistakenly believe our lives are given to us for our enjoyment and pleasure, but that’s not the whole story. Yes, of course, the Lord wants us to maximize our pleasure in knowing Him as Lord, but we wrongly assume those pleasures are to be found in the world when in truth, they can only be found in Him.

That’s the process of conformity to His likeness. Our “death” to self is actually a pronouncement to enjoy life to its fullest. Conformity to the likeness of Jesus doesn’t decrease life’s enjoyment and pleasure, it multiplies it exponentially. No one enjoyed life more than Jesus, and no one’s life was lived with more discipline and determination.

We won’t coast into conformity to our Savior’s likeness; we must scratch and claw our way through the mire of our own desires. We want what we want when we want it, and we don’t want anyone getting in our way or interfering with our efforts. It takes an act of God, a miracle of God to change our direction, but that’s exactly what happens in our conversion.

Repentance is a change of mind that leads to a change in our life’s direction; a transformation of our heart that leads to, not only a willingness, but a strong desire to be more like Jesus. And please understand, none of this process, from start to finish, is accomplished in our own strength. Neither I nor you changed our own mind and set out on a new course, a new direction on our own.

Every step is planned, engineered and structured specifically for us by the Holy Spirit. He convicts, calls, cradles, carries, corrects, and, yes, at times even coddles us into the image of God’s Son, our Savior. Our only assignment is to listen and obey. Oh, if it were only that easy, huh? Actually, it is. It’s just that Satan wants so desperately to keep us for himself, he sets traps, snares, for us along the way.

It’s called temptation and Satan’s very good at it. But here’s the good news. Jesus has anticipated and provided a means of escape for every trick Satan has planned for us. “So, why do I fail so often?” Because listening and obeying are learned skills. How do we learn? Trial and error; trying and failing; walking and falling.

We attain the qualities of those with whom we spend the most time. If you want to become like Jesus, you must commit to spending time with Him. And by spending time with Him I’m not talking about just reading the Bible, praying a few minutes a day, and attending “Jesus” meetings. He IS OUR LIFE! He’s the air we breathe, the food we eat, the energy we expend living our life. He is with us EVERY SECOND! He’s not a religious activity or a building to which we go to meet with Him.

Jesus is alive in the person of His Holy Spirit who lives in us and is with us every second of every day. Abiding in Him means to be consciously aware that we are NEVER alone. He walks with us and talks with us in the hectic as well as the peaceful moments of our day. You’re becoming like the one(s) with whom you spend the most time. Who is that? Do you REALLY want to become more like Jesus? It takes time.

Conformity to His death is joyfully living in His life. It’s the realization that whatever we need, He’s the answer. Need strength to overcome temptation? Perseverance to withstand hardships? Money to pay your bills? Wisdom to love well? Whatever you need, whenever you need it, Jesus is with you, for you, and is working to make Himself more and more recognizable in and through your life. Trust Him!

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Conformity

“…that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death…” (Philippians 3:10 NKJV)

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, conform means: “to make or be like: agree; to obey customs or standards.” If your friends, family, neighbors, classmates, co-workers, those who know you most and those who know you least were to be your “mirror,” to them, what story is your life’s witness telling? To them, to those who are viewing your life, who would you resemble most? You or Jesus?

On some levels that may seem like a silly question, I mean, after all, they can only see your visible presence, your physical form, but think with me. Whose personality, worldview, principles, convictions, are they seeing? What about your forms of entertainment, enjoyment, pleasures? What makes you laugh? Cry? Fear? Worry? Fret? In what or whom do you find the most joy, satisfaction, contentment?

Realize it or not, like it or not, everyday we are conforming to a shape we alone are choosing. That’s true physically, emotionally, educationally, psychologically, as well as spiritually. We are at the controls of our life, choosing which paths we will take, how we will invest or waste our time, money, energy, resources of every kind. We alone determine what the priorities of our life will be.

Yes, of course, if we’re married, have children, a job, family, friends, there are “pressures” to conform to someone else’s expectations of us, but ultimately the proverbial “buck” stops with us. When we stand before the Lord to give an account of our life, we’re the only one who will be held responsible and accountable for the outcome of our life.

So, who are you becoming? The best version of yourself? The best version of the person you believe your spouse, parents, friends, employer, someone else wants you to be? Ultimately, we’re placed on earth to be the person God designed and created us to become, but that can only happen as we choose to be conformed to the likeness of our Savior.

The word used in the verse above that’s translated “conformed” literally means “to receive the same form as.” Think about that for a moment. How do we shape our life? How do we determine the “form our life will take? How can I know my life is being shaped into the likeness of Jesus? It’s interesting to me that Paul wanted to be conformed to Jesus’ death. What are the implications?

Jesus’ whole purpose for coming to earth was to die. He didn’t come, like most of us, to get as much enjoyment, fun, pleasure, contentment, fulfillment, and joy out of life as we can, then die a peaceful, calm, and hopefully, pain free death. He came with the express purpose of dying an agonizing, tormenting, unimaginable death, not because of anything He did wrong and certainly not because He deserved it, but to pay the penalty for our sin, so that we might enjoy the promise of a future and a hope of eternal life we could never have attained without Him.

Knowing that was His end, His whole life had to be conformed to the likeness of His Father who was perfect in every way. Talk about pressure! Whew! No one could have EVER done that, except Jesus. But He did and because His whole life was a process of conforming to the Father’s will in preparation for His death, how much greater effort and intention must be put into how and why we live our lives.

We need to delve deeper. There’s more here. We’ll pick it up in tomorrow’s post.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Whose Name Are You Trusting?

“As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. ‘Joseph, son of David,’ the angel said, ‘do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’” (Matthew 1:20-21 NLT)

In all the years of my long life I’ve never heard a single person say: “I can’t wait to get to hell!” I’ve heard a few who thought they were already in hell, but that’s another story. The point is, most people desire and expect to go to heaven, but many, if not most, have no clue as to how they’re going to get there.

Even people who week after week sit in evangelical churches often don’t make the connection between personal faith in Jesus and heaven. Most believe it rests on their ability to be good enough, faithful enough, “holy” enough to merit the privilege of spending eternity in the perfect environment we know as heaven. But the fact remains, there’s only one way and His name is Jesus! Can it really be that simple? Yes, it can, and it is!

“Used by permission, © Ray Majoran, GlimpseOfInfinity.com” Heaven’s Horizon, Earth’s Hope

My sense is that if we spent even a fraction of the time we spend trying to be “good” enough to earn our salvation in actually investing ourselves in learning to know, love, and become more like our Savior, our lives would be so much more satisfying and fruitful. The more quickly we face the fact that we’ll NEVER be good enough to merit heaven, the sooner we’ll position ourselves to receive the grace available to enable us to allow the Lord to live His life out through us. It’s not us who is or ever will be perfect, it’s Him.

Bob Goff nailed it when he wrote: “Grace means we don’t need to airbrush our lives to make them look perfect when they’re not.” How refreshing to know that I’m all I need to be as long as my trust and confidence for my eternal life is centered in and focused squarely on the Lord Jesus.

Ron Hutchcraft gives us insight into this when he writes: “There are going to be some tragic surprises on Judgment Day. Someone will walk up to God and give their name and say, ‘Hey, look at all the good things I’ve done, Lord. Here are my references; all the people who will vouch for me.’ That’s not going to be enough to get you in. Or, ‘Maybe, Lord, it’s in my church’s name, or my husband’s name, or my wife’s name. They’re real good Christians. My parent’s name.’

And then will come the agony of realizing that we’ve been depending on a name that cannot get us into heaven. Only the name of Jesus Christ can get you in, because it took His death on the cross to do it. He’s the only Savior there is. There are other religious teachers, there are religious systems. There are a lot of good works. None of which can satisfy a perfect God. Only Jesus paid the price with His life. And God says, ‘What will you do with Him? Salvation is in no other name.’

So we need to walk up to God and say, “Lord, look under Jesus. I know that He died on that cross for me. I’ve accepted His death for me as my only hope. I’ve made Him my Savior and my Lord. My reservation is in Jesus’ name.”(See A Word With You The Name on Your Heaven Reservation – 09-21-23)

Please don’t put your trust in any other name but the matchless name of Jesus. He alone said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

The Meaning of Grace

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14 KJV)

The longer I know, love, and serve the Lord, the greater my sense that we’ve cheapened His grace to mean something it was never intended to mean. In our busyness we tend to take a casual and almost flippant view of a gift Jesus paid with His life to give us. It’s like regardless of what we do or why we do it, our attitude is: “Oh, it’s no big deal, Jesus will cover it with His grace!”

And while that’s technically true, His grace IS sufficient for our every sin, our lack of remorse or regret for our sin, evidenced by our unwillingness to turn from it, gives rise to my doubt as to whether a person really knows Him.

It’s like someone who is unfaithful to their spouse, begs forgiveness, seems remorseful, yet continues to be unfaithful. Is there no line to be drawn? No point beyond which a spouse says “ENOUGH?” And don’t misunderstand, I get that God’s grace has no limits, but I also know that someone who continually is walking away from obedient surrender to the Lord cannot and will not be used of God.

I think of Saul in the Old Testament, God’s chosen one to be the first king of Israel. God used him until he stopped being usable. When he traded God’s will for his own, went his own way, made his own decisions and pretended it was alright with God, he lost favor with God and it ultimately cost him his life.

God alone knows our heart and it’s His decision alone as to what He will do in, through, and on our behalf. Yes, of course, He will forgive us over and over again, just like He did in my life and yours, but at some point, don’t we have to turn the proverbial “corner” and begin to walk with earnest desire to obey and please Him? Yes, of course, we’ll still mess up, but our intent, our goal, our strong desire is NOT to mess up, but to submit to His authority and walk in obedience.

On the other hand, I think of the person who has walked away from God their whole life, hardly giving Him a thought. They pile up misery after misery with all the wrong decisions they make. It may mean prison or incarceration in another type of facility, and from all outward appearances there’s no longer any hope for that person, but because of the grace of God, there’s always hope.

Bob Goff made an insightful observation when he wrote: “If you think your mess-up is bigger than God’s grace, that’s your second mistake.” What’s he saying? You can’t mess up so badly the Lord won’t forgive you if you’re willing to ask. A lot of people whom we think of as deeply spiritual and who have made significant contributions to the Christian Faith and our personal lives, were scoundrels before they came to Christ.

I think of “Saints” like Augustine and C. S. Lewis, to name a few, who lived very ungodly lifestyles before coming to the Lord Jesus, but whom God has used in extraordinary ways to further His eternal purposes. Perhaps the bottom line for me is this: to the extent we take for granted the grace of God, to that extent we’re likely to miss opportunities to be useful to the Father.

When we understand how eternally valuable God’s grace is; when we guard, value, and appreciate the tremendous sacrifice that was made to allow us access to it, then we’ll see more clearly the vileness of our own sin in a new light and learn to hate our sin as we must in order to love and honor the grace that has delivered us from it.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

When Two Become One

“’At last!’ the man exclaimed. ‘This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh! She will be called “woman,” because she was taken from “man.” This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” (Genesis 2:23-24 NLT)

What does it mean to be “united” in marriage? Does it mean we should never disagree? That the husband is the “boss” and should always get his way (every husband’s dream 😊). Does it mean there should never be a difference of opinion or desires that don’t match? No, it doesn’t mean any of those things.

What it does mean, at least for couples who love Jesus, is they’re on the same team, facing the same direction, moving toward a mutually agreed upon end that, ideally, is the glory and honor of Jesus. It means they fight for one another, not against one another. It means that they learn to disagree without being disagreeable, to fight fair and decide in advance what to do when they’re “fight” is moving in a wrong direction.

Lisa Lakey gives us insight when she writes: “At an early age, I bought into the lie that success=value. That I was ‘less’ if I failed, if someone didn’t like me, if I wasn’t the best. So I held on dearly to each little gold star, be it figurative or literal (God bless elementary teachers!). Each one a life buoy to hold me over until the next one. And in between? Lots of non-star-worthy moments.

Maybe this is why I didn’t accept Jesus until I was in my twenties. I just couldn’t fathom a world where, ‘the last will be first, and the first last’ (Matthew 20:16). But can I share something I’m still learning? Marriage is no place for gold stars.

My husband needs a wife motivated by love, not one obsessed with achievement. And I want my husband to feel he can come to me when he falters a bit, not scared of whether or not I will hold him to some unrealistic standard. Our value in this marriage is not determined by our successes, but upon the love and forgiveness Christ has shown each of us. No gold stars here. But love, hugs, apologies, and second chances? We have lots of those.” (See Family Life I Do Every Day: Gold Stars – 2022)

Marriage is certainly a place where couples who love the Lord should exhibit His character and illustrate their oneness with Him, but it’s certainly not the only place. Two become one, not only in marriage, but in our relationship with the Lord Jesus. Paul speaks of this in Romans 6:5: “Since we have been united with Him in His death, we will also be raised to life as He was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives.”

In much the same way as marriage should end our search for a life’s partner, salvation in Christ alone by faith alone should end our search for a life’s leader and Lord. We’ll do battle with sin until our eyes close in death, but that doesn’t mean we’ve got to lose those battles. As marriage builds (or should build) a safe place for us to fail, it should also be a place of encouragement when we succeed, giving us the courage to fight our battles knowing we’re not alone. In much the same way, being a child of God should give us confidence and strength to defeat the enemy of our soul in the daily battles we have with Satan and his emissaries.

Marriage is hard. Life is hard, even as a believer, but it gets exponentially easier the more we rely on our Partner, the Lord Jesus.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊